Announcement | 2018 Creative Arts Fund

The Blacktown City Council 2018 Creative Arts Fund has been awarded to 19 artists and community organisations – a total allocation of $32,750.

Applicants eager to create new artwork and develop their creative skills have been granted funds to aid the development of a range of skills including singing, music and film production, writing, ceramics, drawing and painting.

“Since 2016, Blacktown City Council has awarded $120,000 worth of grants to local individuals and organisations through the Creative Arts Fund,” Blacktown City Mayor Stephen Bali MP said.

“By providing opportunities such as this to local artists, Council continues to recognise the importance of creative practice in uniting and building pride within our community.”

“I am proud that Blacktown City Council invests in the development of arts and culture in our City through annual initiatives like this.”

Grants of up to $3,000 have been awarded to community organisations including:

• Blacktown Women’s and Health Centre (Blacktown) – Blacktown Women’s and Health Centre will coordinate a 9-week arts program for young women to foster self-expression through art-making.
• PCYC Blacktown (Blacktown) – PCYC Blacktown is supporting the professional mentorship of 15 young singers with the aim of delivering a collaborative track to be released online.
• Sydney Sonata Singers (Blacktown) – Sydney Sonata Singers will present a concert featuring songs in English and Filipino. The Filipino choir will also invite performers from other cultural backgrounds to accompany them.

Grants of up to $2,000 have been awarded to individuals and artist groups including:

• Joycelyn Adan (Quakers Hill) – Joycelyn will interview her parents about their experiences as Filipino migrants. The process will be documented through a manuscript and blog posts.
• Miranda Aguilar (Quakers Hill) – Miranda will work on the creative development of a queer performance text about three friends who navigate growing pains.
• Iqbal Barkat (Doonside) – Iqbal will deliver the second phase of their project that looks at the plurality of Islamic religion and culture. This will involve a symposium and a performance.
• Clarissa Bock (Plumpton) – Clarissa will write and produce a 5-track EP titled Vulnerable.
• Kristone Capistrano (Rooty Hill) – Kristone will peruse the ongoing development of a future exhibition, Forgotten Faces, that explores alternative non-European narratives in Australia’s penal history.
• Elisa Cristallo (Seven Hills) – Elisa will produce a comedy web series focusing on positive representation of multiculturalism.
• Mike Moore and Jeff Lees (Blacktown) – Mike and Jeff will collectively create ceramic pieces with hand-coloured photographic transfers and onglaze enamels.
• Corey James Lonsdale (Quakers Hill) – Corey will develop new and traditional skills in painting and wood-carving using found materials in Blacktown.
• Helena Mesarovic (Blacktown) – Helena will produce a series of 5 artworks using mixed media for potential upcoming exhibitions.
• Vonne Patiag (Minchinbury) – Vonne will work on a theatre piece that explores the exhaustion caused by the experience of racism and class privilege.
• Shobana Suresh (Blacktown) – Shobana will interpret the poem My Country, by Dorothea McKellar, through the art of Bharathanatyam (classical Indian dance).
• Hayley Williams (Doonside) – Hayley will create a series of paintings, while also taking part in events to create awareness of mindfulness and mental health.

Iqbal Barkat, one of the recipients recognises the importance of such initiatives by Council.  “The Fund acknowledges that artworks by local artists play a crucial role in creating engaged local communities committed to their own wellbeing,” he said.

“The Fund helps me to apply for state and national funding to take my work to different audiences, beyond Western Sydney.”